Apparatus having vertically movable personnel cages for a spreader

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for transporting people by a spreader having a vertically moveable head beam with a pair of horizontally extendable long bars includes a pair of personnel cages carried by a pair of cantilever beams extending from a housing. The personnel cages can be mounted to free ends of the long bars and be moved vertically with respect to the spreader.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This is a U.S. national stage of application No. PCT/EP01/09862, filedon 27 Aug. 2001. Priority is claimed on that application and on thefollowing application: Country: Germany, Application No.: 100 41 932.1,Filed: 27 Aug. 2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a device for transporting people by a spreaderhaving a vertically movable head beam with horizontally extendable longbars.

2. Description of the Related Art

When unloading containers transported on ships, at first the containershave to be unshipped which are positioned on the hatch covers. In orderto protect them against falling off during the journey the containersare locked against each other and relative to the hatch covers by meansof so-called “twistlocks” (interlocking elements to be provided at thecorners of the containers). Prior to the unloading procedure, saidtwistlocks have to be unlocked manually. In the case of twistlocks whichmust be handled completely manually, they are put first, also for theloading procedure, on the hatch cover or on the containers alreadyloaded, whereupon they are also manually interlocked. As the containersare often stacked up to five layers on the hatch covers, it is extremelydifficult to reach them from the deck or from the gangways between thecontainer stacks. The lower two layers are locked or unlocked by rodsfrom the deck or the gangway, whereas the upper layers have to beunlocked from above, using the afore mentioned rods. As in many casessalient containers hinder accessibility, the before mentioned operationsare extremely dangerous and often result in fatal accidents. This is whyin many States legal provisions have been issued generally prohibitingany operation from the upper surface of the containers. However, saidprovisions cannot be followed in practice because, up to now, suitabledevices are missing which could safely transport the staff on the spotto open the twistlocks.

In view of these problems various producers are trying to find asolution and offer appropriate devices. Said devices (so-calledpersonnel cages) are used to transport the staff as near as possible totheir point of intervention. Personal cages are known which—when hangingunder the spreader—are positioned on the uppermost container. From here,the staff operates using the already mentioned rods. In a further knowndevice, two cages occupied by operators and also hanging underneath thespreader, hang down along the front parts of the containers, such thatthey make it possible to safely reach at least the twistlocks of theuppermost layer. A further known device facilitates, by means of threepersonnel cages interconnected through ladders, the locking andunlocking of the three uppermost layers. However, this device, due toits overall height, is only fit for limited use (necessary hoistingheight and salient containers). A further important requirement tofacilitate an efficient routine of loading and unloading is thenecessity to mount said device directly on the bridge crane use for shiploading. Due to the specific construction of these very expensive bulkdevices there is no place suitable for such a device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a device which may be simplypicked up by the spreader, which has overall dimensions facilitating themounting on the bridge crane and from which it would be possible to lockand unlock at least two to four layers of containers.

This problem is resolved by at least one personnel cage which can bemounted on the free end of a respective at least one of the long bars,each personnel cage being vertically moveable with respect to therespective long bar.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device, as a whole called “personnelcage”,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the personnel cage picked up from thespreader,

FIG. 3 is a top view of the entire personnel cage,

FIG. 4 is a front view of the personnel cage,

FIG. 5 is a lateral view of the personnel cage,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the personnel cage from the side of thedoor,

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the telescopic bars of the personnelcage,

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the personnel cage with its bars fromthe side of the door,

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the personnel cage with its bars fromthe side facing the container,

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the entire personnel cage picked upfrom the spreader positioned on a stack of containers, being in avertically telescopic extended working position,

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the entire personnel cage withoutspreader, in its position on the top of a container stack and in avertically telescopic extended working position,

FIG. 12 is a view similar to that of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As illustrated in the drawing it is provided that a spreader 1 is suitedto pick up a carrier 2 to which are fastened, at both ends, twopersonnel cages 3 used to carry operators. Each of said personnel cages3 may be extended downward by means of a vertical telescoping frame 4 tosuch a position that all layers of containers 7 may be easily reached.The personnel cage 3 offers to the transported operators sufficientprotection not only during the entering phase between the containerstacks but also during vertical movement.

The entire device comprises an upper carrier 2 which is preferablyconstructed as a coupling that may be automatically picked up by thespreader 1 without the need of any modification. Obviously, otherembodiments may also be used allowing the fixing of the carrier 2 to thehead beam 10 of the spreader 1 manually by means of a separate pick updevice or also automatically.

As shown in figure 1, personnel cages 3 are fastened to respectivecantilever beams 5 telescopically mounted in a housing 6. The spreader 1has a vertically moveable head beam 10 with a pair of horizontallyextendable long bars 11 provided with couplings 12 for coupling to thecantilever beams 5. The horizontal propulsion for extending andretracting the cantilever beams 5 is effected by the correspondingmovement of the long bars 11 of spreader 1. In this way it is possiblethat, in the case of shifting above long containers, it is not necessaryto transport the entire personnel cage over the top of the containers,but it is sufficient to move it in the same vertical position withoutany need to lift it, simply relocating it relative to the front faces ina transverse direction. This has the advantage that in the case ofseveral long containers 7, positioned one adjacent to the other, thetwistlocks can also be opened or locked which are positioned at thebottom.

On both cantilever beams 5 vertically telescoping frames 4 are fastenedenabling the personnel cage 3 to be lowered to such an extent that allnecessary operational positions may safely be reached without the needto use rods or the like. The bars 9 of the telescoping frames 4 may benestled one inside the next as often as necessary to obtain the smallestpossible overall width when in the retracted position. Said bars 9 arepositioned outside the frontal boundary of the containers 7, but insidethe maximum width of containers.

The “real” personnel cage 3 with all of the control elements is fastenedat the bar 9 which can be telescopically extended to the lowestposition. The cage is constructed in such a way that it guarantees themaximum protection for the staff and the optimum of accessibility to thetwistlocks. The closed wall may contain the control elements; at thesame time it has the function of a sliding surface along the containers7.

According to the illustrated embodiment each of the personnel cages 3 isprovided with its own lifting motor 8 to be operated from the side ofthe corresponding personnel cage 3. Said lifting motor 8 may be a motorwith ropes or a hydraulic motor.

The energy necessary for lifting and lowering the personnel cages 3 ispreferably provided as electrical power supplied by means of a powersupply 20 in the spreader 1. On the other hand, it would be possible toprovide it in the form of hydraulic power or to accumulate the staticand the kinetic energy available when positioning the spreader 1. Theaccumulation (e.g. storage battery or hydraulic accumulator) of theenergy induced into the device has the advantage that the device may beput on a container stack. This enables the staff to operate one alterthe other in all positions of a stack, independent of the presence ofthe spreader 1, which in the meantime is free to carry out other loadingor unloading operations. In the case of a power supply via the spreaderI it is advantageous if the connection to the spreader 1 isautomatically re-established when it is positioned again. Alternatively,a manual coupling is also possible.

The energy supply for lifting the personnel cage 3 again may be realizedas follows:

1. External Energy Supply

1.1. Electric, hydraulic, pneumatic power supply from the spreader 1 tothe personnel cage 3 via manual contacting (contact plugs).

1.2. Electric, hydraulic, pneumatic power supply from the spreader 1 tothe personnel cage 3 via automatic contacting (plugs) when couplingspreader−personnel cage.

2. Energy Accumulation

2.1. During positioning the spreader 1 on the personnel cage 3, theenergy present in the form of weight of spreader×lowering height isstored by means of:

2.1.1. hydraulic cylinders which are compressed by the weight of thespreader, in hydraulic storage medium,

2.1.2. mechanical spring accumulator compressed by the weight of thespreader,

2.1.3. counterweight which is lifted by the weight of the spreader viadeflection pulleys for ropes or chains or the like, in such a way as tostore energy.

2.2. During repositioning the personnel cage 3 by means of the spreader1 into the inoperative position the energy present in the form of weightof (spreader+personnel cage)×lowering height by means of:

2.2.1. hydraulic cylinders which are compressed by the weight of thespreader, in hydraulic storage medium,

2.2.2. mechanic spring accumulator compressed by the weight of thespreader,

2.2.3. counterweight which is lifted by the weight of the spreader viadeflection pulleys for ropes or chains or the like, in such a way as tostore energy.

1. Apparatus for transporting people by a spreader having a verticallymoveable head beam with a pair of horizontally extendable long bars,each said long bar having a free end, said apparatus comprising at leastone personnel cage, each said personnel cage being mountable to arespective said free end; and means for moving each said personnel cagevertically with respect to said spreader.
 2. Apparatus as in claim 1comprising a pair of said personnel cages.
 3. Apparatus as in claim 2further comprising a housing connected between said personnel cages,said housing being coupleable to said head beam.
 4. Apparatus as inclaim 3 further comprising a pair of cantilever beams mounted in saidhousing, each said cantilever beam carrying a respective said personnelcage.
 5. Apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said cantilever beams arehorizontally extendable from said housing, said cantilever beams beingcoupleable to respective said long bars so that each said cantileverbeam can be moved horizontally with the respective said long bar. 6.Apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said means for moving each saidpersonnel cage vertically comprises a plurality of telescoping framesconnected between each said personnel cage and a respective saidvertical beam.
 7. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said means for movingeach said personnel cage comprises a lifting motor for each saidpersonnel cage.
 8. Apparatus as in claim 7 further comprising means ineach said personnel cage for operating the respective lifting motor. 9.Apparatus as in claim 1 further comprising a power supply for movingeach said personnel cage vertically, said power supply also supplyingpower for said spreader.
 10. Apparatus as in claim 7 wherein saidspreader provides static and kinetic energy which can be used to powerthe lifting motor of each said personnel cage.